We earlier reported on YouTube’s decision to launch a rival to the popular video sharing platform TikTok. The popularity of Tik Tok’s short video format has definitely initiated a craze—Instagram has brought out “Reels” & YouTube has now launched Shorts. Both formats mimic Tik Tok’s formula, but instead of the 60 second duration allowed by Tik Tok, both offer users a 15 second time allocation.
In a blog post on YouTube’s website, Chris Jaffe the VP of Product Management at YouTube described the new service & the company’s plans to distribute it. Currently, the service will be available in India, only. Also, the service is, at present, only available for Android devices. However, Chris’ blog post hints that Shorts will soon be available for IoS, & that the company will float the service in a number of other countries.
YouTube makes it clear that their new app YouTube Shorts was aimed at the youth dance market, which is exactly where Tik Tok finds their users. Shorts offers a number of tools to artists & creators so that they can film their videos easily:-
- A multi-segment camera to string multiple video clips together.
- The option to record with music from a large library of songs that will continue to grow.
- Speed controls that give the flexibility to be creative during the performance.
- A timer & countdown tool to record, hands-free.
YouTube has set up a prominent spot for the new “Shorts” on their homepage, & much like Tik Tok’s user experience, the videos can be viewed one after the other by swiping down through the offerings.
With Oracle as the new owner of TiK Tok in the US, YouTube understands that they need to compete if they’re going to retain their hold over their estimated 2 billion monthly users & “Shorts” is their pitch to do just that right now.
